This is so I don’t get hammered by the UK crowd who’ve been calling for a showcase of one of their own.  I listen guys.  And I told you that Unscripted 360 is covering the entire world of Xbox 360 fans not just the yanks. lol

Welcome to your very first UK Unscripted 360 Showcase.

Tell us first for all the Americans who might not know…Darth Invidious…who is he?

Darth Invidious is a 27 year old from the UK who has been into gaming since the Commodore 64, but he looks a lot younger than his age would suggest!

I know I’ve personally wondered if you’re as big of a Star Wars fan as your Gamertag suggests.  So how did you decide on Darth Invidious?

Big fan!  It was after Episode III that I realized what an awesome character Darth Sidious was; so I decided to adopt that as my online identity.  Unfortunately, when it came to creating my Xbox Live Gamerprofile somebody else had already taken Darth Sidious so I decided to go with another Sith name that I used when playing Half-Life 2: Deathmatch.  At first I had never even heard the word Invidious in a conversation, so I must have somehow picked it out of a combination of Sidious and Insidious.  As it turns out, Invidious means to cause ill feeling or envy so it’s actually quite a good Sith name!

How has the Xbox 360 experience been for you?

Overall it’s been a pretty good experience.  I was a bit disappointed with some of the earlier titles as they really didn’t do the console justice.  I know a lot of people will say you need to wait about a year before developers are able to extract the best potential from a new hardware platform, but Bethesda did a sterling job with The Elder Scrolls IV, so they should be seen as an example of how to create a magnificent game.

And now with the arrival of Chromehounds, Xbox Live has really become interesting for me.  Until now, there was only so much online shooting and racing one could take before it started to get old, but Chromehounds has kicked it all into a higher gear… especially with the persistent war server.  It really is a great game and superb for people who like to play in teams.

Chromehounds.  I keep hearing it.  Describe a typical gaming session for the Darth one?

I’m not sure if I can fit into “typical”.  My gaming sessions can vary from leaving the machine switched on for about ten minutes without doing anything because I’m too tired to concentrate, to other extreme of playing Knights of the Old Republic until 04:30 in the morning!  From this experience, I can tell you that the warnings included in every game manual really do give an accurate idea of the sort of sensation a person can experience when playing for prolonged periods of time.  Dizziness, trembling, altered vision… oh yeah..I’ve had all of those fighting for the Old Republic!

Do you notice any glaring disparity between US and UK sentiment as it pertains to how each side feels about the Xbox 360?

From my observations in both sides of the community, it struck me that UK gamers are often expressive of their displeasure at the lack of high quality titles.  Perhaps this is a cultural trait, whereby individuals from the UK feel the need to possess large amounts of products that are rated very highly.

Personally, I’m happy with just a couple of well made and enjoyable games.  There are a limited number of hours in the day for recreation, and all I really need is a good game from each genre and I’ll be happy.  That being said, I can see Chromehounds being my number one game for quite some time.

Ok.  That’s it.  Chromehounds I will rent.  What’s been the best feature about the Xbox 360 in your eyes?

The one thing that never gets brought up in discussions very often, and that’s the usability of the console.  We all know about the impressive specifications and the excellent media features, but when you compare the user interface of the 360 with the original Xbox and you can see how much progress has been made.  It now feels like something you can make a lot more personal.  It’s almost more computer-like, and it’s good enough that you hardly even notice it.  It all feels very natural and intuitive.

If you had the chance to add/change anything about your 360, what would it be?

What I would really love to add is an additional library of games for the great classics.  The concept might be similar to the XBL Arcade, but what I’m talking about here is taking legendary games like the original Half-Life and remaking them for the Xbox 360.  And when I say remake, I mean keep the original concept and gameplay, but give the audio and graphics a serious overhaul; similar to how George Lucas re-mastered the original Star Wars trilogy, I would like to see this happen with the great games from both modern times and a few decades ago.

I doubt if this would ever happen though, so I’ll settle for an auto-eject feature after ripping a CD!

What game do you find yourself constantly playing?

Until recently it would have been The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  After completion I had logged around two hundred and thirty hours, which included a few late sessions that ran into the early hours of the morning… and I’m still feeling tired as a result!

Is there a game on the horizon that you just can’t wait for its release?

Mass Effect!  As a sci-fi game, this is right up my street, but there’s a lot more to it than that.  The way Bioware are creating this as a trilogy with downloadable “episodes” between each main game is a great way to have the player “living” with the storyline.  I watched the walkthrough demo a few days ago and this is definitely one of those game that gets me very excited!

Mass Effect does indeed look good.  There have been varied opinions about the Marketplace and its future when concerning content prices.  How do you feel about it currently and what the future may bring?

I think the recent episode involving the chargeable content for Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter highlighted the fact that people really want free content, especially after spending a fair amount of cash on the game to begin with.

Most of us realize that developers and publishers need to cover the costs of production for any new content, but fans of Ghost Recon will remember that Red Storm / Ubisoft gave away thirteen free maps for Island Thunder.

I would like to hope the recent download for G.R.A.W was just an example of Ubisoft testing the water to see how much people were willing to spend.

From my own point of view, I would rather Microsoft dictate that 800 MS points is the absolute maximum for any Marketplace content, otherwise they could potentially alienate several loyal fans.

From a UK perspective, is there any glaring issue, be it with the Marketplace or Xbox 360 itself, that you see coming from your region?

I think one issue that will always exists concerns release dates.  If there is one issue that is guaranteed to see a lot of disgruntled UK gamers uniting it’s having to wait several weeks, or even months, for a game to be released in our region.  I think it actually took six months before NBA 2K6 and NHL 2K6 arrived in UK shops… by which time the anticipation had probably faded in favour of another set of titles.

There’s another aspect about release dates that causes much grief.  The achievement list for a certain title is made available a few weeks prior to the title going gold.  Some of those achievements involve reaching the top of various multiplayer leaderboards, but because we have to wait an addition month for the game’s release those achievements become kind of pointless.  Generally speaking, we feel that this approach gives our rivals a head start and the spirit of competition could be become soured by this.

Personally speaking though I just dislike having to wait too long for a game!

That sucks about the leaderboards.  How do you feel about the potential to have custom Gamerpics?

This is a classic example of the double-edged sword.  I know many people would like to have a custom Gamerpic, but the potential for abuse is just too great for Microsoft to take the risk.  That being said, I would certainly like to be able to use my Chromehounds squad emblem on my Gamercard.

Two words.  Vision camera.  Of all the new peripherals set to release soon, which do you see being the hottest seller?

Tough choice there.  The HD-DVD drive seems like an excellent way of getting next generation disc technology into the household at a much lower price than standalone players from companies like Toshiba.

Then we’ve got the wireless steering wheel, which is getting less hype than I expected considering it will support the much demanded Force Feedback technology.  But ultimately, I think the wireless headset could be the best selling peripheral due to its excellent practicality.

Ok.  One shot.  One game.  You against Major Nelson.  Who wins and what game are you playing?

I would like to think I could get the upper hand in Chromehounds, but in all honesty my HOUND looks a lot more menacing than it really is!

Anything you’d like to say in closing?

Thanks for having me on this Unscripted 360 Showcase, and also thanks for your efforts in the Xbox community.  I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that you’re doing a terrific job.

May the Force be with you!
 
Finished this Showcase has become.  Cheers Invidious one!